Louisville Metro Councilman Ken Herndon, who represents District 4, is looking into adjusting Jefferson County's curfew in an effort to reduce gun violence.
According to Louisville Metro's Code of Ordinances, the curfew prohibits minors from being in public spaces after 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and before 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. Minors also cannot be out from 1 to 6 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The move comes after two shootings downtown and in the Russell neighborhood – both of which are in Herndon's district – left one dead and five injured over the Sept. 11 weekend.
"I'm willing to take a look at any option to help us reduce the gun violence in general, but especially with kids," Herndon told The Courier Journal.
Herndon said he's currently in the beginning stages of the process. On Sept. 15, he met with the Democratic caucus' legal advisor, who is going to look at whether other cities with similar provisions have made changes and if those changes made a difference. Before determining how to adjust the curfew, Herndon said he first wants to look at the research, instead of "just [making] a number up."
The number of police officers could also impact how Metro Government's efforts are enforced, he said. In recent years, Louisville Metro Police has reported a shortage of officers, hitting a peak of 1,252 employed officers in 2014 before slipping to below 1,100 by 2021. Since then, LMPD has struggled to climb above 1,100 officers and had 1,057 at the end of 2025.
"I don't want to go through all that trouble and encourage the public to think that it will get somewhere when it's just going to be changing a couple of data points," Herndon said. "I really want to do the research first and see if we can find a community or communities somewhere else that have a definitive process that has proven to work pretty well."
Asked to comment on Herndon's proposal at a Sept. 15 news conference, Mayor Craig Greenberg said "all options are on the table."
"We should continue to look at all options to do everything we can to reduce violent crime, because notwithstanding the positive progress that we've made in reducing homicides and shootings and the reduction of violent crime, you see things that happen like this weekend, and that just means we need to continue to redouble our efforts," Greenberg said. "We need to keep doing more of what's working, and we need to do even more new things to continue to work on that."
LMPD officers responded to multiple reports of a shooting on the 1000 block of Esquire Alley around 11:35 p.m. Sept. 11. In a statement, spokesperson Matt Sanders said officers found "a chaotic and active scene" and determined that four people had sustained gunshot wounds.
Police identified the victims as a 53-year-old woman, a 29-year-old man, a 28-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy. The four were taken to UofL Hospital for treatment and were expected to survive their injuries.
Officers then responded to a shooting in the 200 block of East Main Street around 1:30 a.m. Sept. 12 and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound who was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency services also took a 16-year-old who was shot to UofL Hospital in critical condition.
The East Main Street shooting occurred outside Dasha Barbours on Whiskey Row, which received an emergency suspension order from Louisville Metro Alcoholic Beverage Control after agency investigators "preliminarily determined the incident was directly related to noncompliant operations," officials said in a Sept. 12 news release.
Herndon said he was angry when he first heard of the two shootings. The Kentucky legislature, he said, has played a role in creating an atmosphere "where we have guns everywhere."
"They flooded the public with guns, and they eliminated a locality's ability to try to protect ourselves with our own laws," Herndon said.
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Herndon previously introduced a "Kids Over Guns" resolution, which called on the General Assembly to give Louisville greater local control over gun legislation. Council members later agreed to delay a vote on the resolution, and the majority of members instead sent a letter to state lawmakers conveying the same point.
"It's not getting anywhere in Frankfort right now, so I'm not against doing anything that we can do to stem this tide," Herndon said.
His main goal is for "people to stop dying."
"We're going to do everything we can do to protect our citizens and our kids in particular, all of us in elected office, community groups and systems," he said. "But the callousness of the guns laws coming out of Frankfort seems to just fly in the face of common sense sometimes."
The issue also extends beyond Kentucky, Herndon said, adding that guns are "everywhere."
"We can't change that right now, so we just have to take a look and do what we can," he said. "If there's a way to begin moving in the other direction incrementally and taking a look at particular things that make life particularly dangerous, specifically for kids, I'm in favor of doing whatever we can to do that."
Reporters Ruby Grisin and Leo Bertucci contributed.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Councilman says curfew change could be 'option' to reduce gun violence